After you create wonderful products into which you pour our heart, skill, capital and time...
After you take fabulous photographs because you know that great PHOTOS are THE most, if not most important element to online success...
After you work on SEO (search engine optimization), descriptions, eye catching titles...
After you work further on branding, banners, avatars, shop policies, artist's bio's, etc...
Do you just sit there and wait?
Ha, if only it were that easy!
The single biggest surprise I had in starting an online jewelry business Beadin By The Sea was the startling realization that the "If you build it, they will come" mentality is simply not true! You can have the most awesome products, great photos, slick website but if no one sees it, you are doomed!
After a year and a half of selling online I am still (and always will be I suspect) trying to figure out how to draw customers to my shop. Of course there are the traditional ways to promote a business that work, like advertising (web based or traditional), passing out business cards, promotions, give aways and networking with other artists and business owners. And then there is the whole mysterious social realm of marketing of which I'm still exploring. Yes, I am twittering, facebooking, blogging, and, participating in forums.
Whew! This all reinforces the fact that, after we build it, we need to promote it, maintain it, tweak it, add to it and promote it some more!
Disclaimer: This post is not meant to be a "how to" market your online business, because I'm no expert! I would, however, appreciate your thoughts how you attract customers to your shop, or how you get noticed in the World Wide Web and maybe we can help each other.
Credits: I must give thanks to this spider which I found yesterday morning spinning his web along our front driveway. I was mesmerized by the way he worked, so deftly spinning his silk, determined to finish the task at hand, totally oblivious of my camera flashes. Of course, I would be this focused too, if I depended on my web for my food supply. Oh, maybe there's a lesson in there too!
Great photos of the spider building his web! As for getting people to our shops, I'm still working on figuring that out! It can be all consuming creating, photographing, listing, marketing - it just gets overwhelming sometimes. I use Google base which seems to help some but other than that, it's all a guess to me. But I know once people find you they'll love your work because I sure love my earrings!
ReplyDeleteHey Debora, love the spider and boy are you right...the truth is....being an artist is the hardest work I've ever done.
ReplyDeleteSometimes it is so frustrating and I know that I have to keep going, through good and bad times. My biggest selling revelation this year is to not keep doing what doesn't work. If I've really worked hard with a site and cannot sell there, I go somewhere else and start fresh. I have tried so hard with ETSY for instance and for me, for whatever reason, it just doesn't work so I took my jewelry and paintings some where else for a change. So far so good and I'm hoping with lots of hard work, new designs and hopefully, people that need to buy Christmas presents...I will have a decent holiday season.
I wish the same for you.
Ruth
Hi Debora
ReplyDeleteI too have been watching spiders - we have an one right outside our hall window and the kids and I sat and watched it spin its web a couple of nights ago. It was an amazing sight and I was blown away by her accuracy, speed and dexterity.
On the subject of more effective selling I find my best sales come from the shops and boutiques that stock my jewellery. The downside to this is it means that quite a lot of my stock is tied up and when I have a table sale to do (like last weekend), I end up spending ages creating new pieces to sell.
Kristin :)
Great post. I can totally relate. I wish that I could get some of my items into shops and boutiques like KS Jewellry was talking about. I think that will be my next project. I will need to do some research on the shop and such in my area first. Maybe that would make a good new years resolution, to get some items into at least one shop next year. Again thanks for the post. Awesome pics of the spider BTW
ReplyDeleteI'm right there with you. I blog, FB, Twitter, etc. and still I have no idea how to increase my traffic. And I'm not even selling anything. I'm just writing and giving it away! Hmmmm. If you get this figured out, let me know will you?
ReplyDeleteP.S. Your jewelry is spectacular and I want to say THANK YOU for your generosity in coming by and leaving comments. I so appreciate you. :)
ReplyDeleteI read this post the other day, but apparently I never left a comment, sorry! Almost done with the house, things are getting back to normal now, yay!
ReplyDeleteAnd we too, have spider webs like these around our house. There are two above a bush outside my kitchen window. I don't seem to feel the need to knock them down, so I just watch them while I do the dishes, heheee...
As for marketing and bringing traffic to our shops, it's a big guessing game to me. I've found that using twitter works on occasion, but I don't want to feel like all I tweet is 'buy my stuff'... even though somedays that's what I want. haha!
I'm doing a couple of shows this fall, and I have to say that it's very rewarding (though still tons of hard work) to walk home in one day with as much money as I might have made in a couple of weeks on etsy. Though, I tried a spring show this year, and it was a total bust. They are hit and miss too, just like selling online is.
I think if we can all just hang in there for a little bit longer, the holiday season will pick up and people will start spending again. And hopefully after that, the spending will feel more comfortable next year for the economy as a whole.
Never give up, always believe in yourself, and always keep looking for new things to try. ♥
You have beautiful work, hang in there!
Love the pictures!!
ReplyDeleteThe greatest thing you'll ever learn is to love and be loved in return.
ReplyDeleteHey Debora, I wanted to say...I'm trying a new thing but have no idea if it will work well or drive traffic to my site buy hey, it's free to try right!!! Anyway, I have heard advertising on Craigslist sometimes helps drive traffic to your site. It's free and you have to relist every week but I think it is worth a try for sure.
ReplyDeleteRuth